Gundy Says Sinor Will Start, but ‘Everybody Has to Accept Responsibility’ for Poor Special Teams Play

During Mike Gundy’s pre-Bedlam press conference, the subject of special teams play predictably came up. Something that used to be a strength of the last couple of years, has become an eyesore for Oklahoma State coaches and fans alike.

“I wasn’t involved in special teams last week,” Gundy joked. “I’m going to get back in it this week.”

During Oklahoma State’s rain-soaked road game against West Virginia, we saw a blocked punt-score in the Cowboys’ own end zone, a bad snap-hold on an extra point attempt, a badly missed field goal, a bad kickoff and penalties including “roughing the holder” which I’m sure Mike Gundy has never heard of outside a contract negotiating strategies.

All pieces of a bigger picture that portray a special teams unit ranked dead last in the FBS in efficiency.

“Well, we’re not kicking the ball very good,” said Gundy. “We’ve been average in our kickoffs, location is important. We’ve not hit the ball as good as we need to field goal-wise. Now, percentage-wise, we’re not that far below what would be an average. But they’ve been shorter field goals so it makes everybody not feel so good about it.

“We’ve been below average in punting and that’s been very unusual for us. Those are mistakes that we should not be making, so there’s always the coaching tied into it, but there’s also the players tied into it.

“Everybody has to accept responsibility, and that’s what we’ll work on tomorrow.”

After the above illustrated punting fiasco, faux-Heisman candidate and PR darling, Zach Sinor was unceremoniously benched for his and Ammendola’s backup, Matt Hockett. Hockett punted once and it went 49 yards and was downed at the West Virginia 3-yard line.

But Gundy confirmed that Sinor will punt on Saturday and likened the change to a manager in baseball pulling his starter after a home run.

Hopefully his ace, one of the most effective punters in the nation last year, can turn it around starting with Bedlam. After all, we’ve seen how much of a difference special teams can play against Oklahoma.

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